Attribution Flashcards
Attribution
-Explanation for behavior (ours or others)
Attribution Theory
-Theory about how people explain the causes of behavior
What did Fritz Heider (The Father of Attribution Research) argue?
We are all intuitive scientists and we try to
1) Predict our environment
2) Control our environment
What are the 2 types of Attributions?
1) Dispositional
2) Situational
Dispositional Attribution
-behavior caused by internal factors based on personality
Situational Attribution
-behavior caused by external factors based on the situation
Correspondent Inference Theory (CIT)
1) How people should make attributions if they were being intuitive scientists
2) Focuses on WHEN people make dispositional attributions
What are the 3 factors of CIT
- Free Choice
- Expectedness
- Effects of the behavior
How does free choice impact dispositional attributions (CIT)
The higher the choice is when it comes to behavior, the higher the dispositional attribution
^Free Choice=^Dispositional Attributions
How does Expectedness impact dispositional attributions (CIT)
The more you expect a behavior, the less likely one is to make a dispositional attribution
- The more you expect a behavior=the less likely dispositional attributions are
How do Effects of the behavior impact dispositional attributions (CIT)
The more positive effects there are for a given behavior, the less certain you can be about WHY THE PERSON PRODUCED THE BEHAVIOR
(CIT) predictions
Dispositional Attributions will be more likely when
1. Choice is high
2. Expectedness is low
3. There are few positive effects of behavior
What are the problems found in Early Attribution Theories?
- Fundamental Attribution Error (FAE)
- The Actor-Observer Effect
Fundamental Attribution Error
-Tendency to UNDERESTIMATE the effects of a situation on a person’s behavior
-Tendency to OVERESTIMATE the effect of a person’s dispositions
ie) 1) Seeing people in an odd placement at a gas station
2) Assuming it’s the person’s fault when its more likely that someone was there first
The Actor-Observer Effect
-Tendency to make dispositional attributions for the actions OF OTHERS
-Tendency to make situational attributions for our own behaviors